UN bio-safety meet agrees on liability deal

DPA Bonn (Germany), May 16 (DPA) A UN conference on bio-safety reached a preliminary agreement Friday on liability for environmental damage arising from the use of genetically modified organisms in farming. The accord initially provides for countries to claim compensation from those directly responsible for environmental damage or from the manufacturers of the genetic products that caused the damage.

But the conference was unable to finalize an internationally legally binding agreement that identifies those who should be held liable and who should pay compensation.

Further negotiations were needed to work out the details, said Ahmed Djoghlaf, executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, at the end of the five-day meeting in this German city of Bonn, located about 20 km south of Cologne on the river Rhine.

He said the negotiations would take place over the next two years and the result presented to the next bio-safety conference to be held in Japan in 2010.

Ursula Heinen, the agriculture ministry secretary of state who represented Germany at the Bonn conference, called the outcome “a genuine success”.

It was the first time in four years that the around 150 nations linked by the convention were able to agree in principle on rules for government liability and compensation, she said.

Environmental groups claimed the agreement did not go far enough.

Greenpeace’s Doreen Stabinsky said the conference “has failed” because it did not agree on clear rules that would hold gene technology concerns accountable for damage.